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6 machines to sweep roads

Mechanised clean-up: Curious people looking at the rotating ‘gutter broom’ on the city roads during its first round of cleaning on Thursday.

Manual night-sweeping units to be shifted to suburban areas

HYDERABAD: Some of the busiest roads of the city will be swept clean from Thursday night with the help of machines with Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy formally launching them. Six sweeping machines, procured at a cost of about Rs. 5 crore, will effectively undertake 50 per cent of manual night sweeping work.

GHMC Commissioner C.V.S.K. Sarma explained the features of the machines to Dr. Reddy saying that it would not only help in quality sweeping, but also save human lives as there were cases of contract labourers being fatally hit by vehicles during nights. Seventy-nine labour units, each consisting of 18 workers, do night sweeping for 8 km of single lane roads and 4 km of double lane roads, totalling to 40 works covering 318 km. Each sweeping machine can work up to a distance of 10 km per hour and everyday they can be put to use for up to 10 hours.

Sprinkling water

Additional Commissioner (Health & Sanitation) R. Rama Mohan Rao said the machines could cover up to 150 km of four lanes each night. The machines would also continuously sprinkle water while sweeping a three-metre width preventing dust pollution.

Besides, they have the system of automatic vacuum sucking of dust and garbage, vacuum pit-cleaning facility, hydraulic unloading system and prevent any foul smell from emitting outside as the garbage will be transported in a closed container.

The machines will be used on the main roads covering the Assembly, Raj Bhavan, Necklace Road, Tank Bund, Banjara Hills, Secunderabad, parts of old city, etc., along with some key roads in Kukatpally, L.B.Nagar and Serilingampally. “We will firm up the routes and distances observing their functioning in the next few days. We will shift the manual units to the suburbs,” said Mr. Rao.Two machines costing little more than Rs. 1 crore were imported from Germany and two others costing about Rs.90 lakh from England. Two more machines were sourced from Ahmedabad costing Rs.50, 000 each.

Saving costs

A three-year maintenance contract was given to the firms. GHMC expects to save close to Rs.9.70 lakh a month by taking up mechanised sweeping. Meanwhile, the A.P. Municipal Workers and Employees Federation have opposed the introduction of mechanised sweeping alleging that it will directly have an affect on the employment of workers.